As this is a long entry, I'll put the homework up here:
Passage: The Young Sea by Carl Sandburg
Study vocab
Opened with another poem by Robert Frost:
DUST OF SNOW by Robert Frost
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued*.
(rue: to feel sorrow over; repent of; regret bitterly)
Students considered mood, author's purpose and rhyme scheme. Afterwards we continued discussing the vocabulary of poetry:
Alliteration:
The repetition of the same or similar sounds at the beginning of words. Some famous examples of alliteration are tongue twisters such as Betty Botta bought some butter and Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Ballad:
A poem that tells a story similar to a folk tale or legend and often has a repeated refrain. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is an example of a ballad.
Lyric:
A poem, such as a sonnet or an ode, that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet. A lyric poem may resemble a song in form or style.
Metaphor:
A figure of speech in which two things are compared, usually by saying one thing is another, or by substituting a more descriptive word for the more common or usual word that would be expected. Some examples of metaphors: the world's a stage, he was a lion in battle, drowning in debt, and a sea of troubles.
Narrative:
Telling a story. Ballads, epics, and lays are different kinds of narrative poems.
Personification:
A figure of speech in which inanimate objects or abstractions are endowed with human qualities or are represented as possessing human form, as in Hunger sat shivering on the road or Flowers danced about the lawn.
Rhyme:
The occurrence of the same or similar sounds at the end of two or more words. When the rhyme occurs in a final stressed syllable, it is said to be masculine: cat/hat, behave/shave, observe/deserve. When the rhyme ends with one or more unstressed syllables, it is said to be feminine: vacation/sensation, reliable/viable. The pattern of rhyme in a stanza or poem is shown usually by using a different letter for each final sound. In a poem with an aabba rhyme scheme, the first, second, and fifth lines end in one sound, and the third and fourth lines end in another.
Rhythm:
The pattern or flow of sound created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry.
Simile:
A figure of speech in which two things are compared using the word "like" or "as." An example of a simile using like occurs in Langston Hughes's poem Harlem: "What happens to a dream deferred?/ Does it dry up/ like a raisin in the sun?"
We took sometime to read and listen to the song Helplessly Hoping by Stephen Stills. This song is a great example of alliteration:
Helplessly hoping her harlequin* hovers nearby
Awaiting a word
Gasping at glimpses of gentle true spirit
He runs, wishing he could fly
Only to trip at the sound of goodbye
Wordlessly watching, he waits by the window
And wonders at the empty place inside
Heartlessly helping himself to her bad dreams
He worries, did he hear a goodbye
Or even hello
{Refrain}
They are one person
They are two alone
They are three together
They are for each other
Stand by the stairway, you'll see something
Certain to tell you confusion has its cost
Love isn't lying, it's loose in a lady
Who lingers, saying she is lost
And choking on hello
(harlequin: a buffoon, fool)
